General

Yes I noticed the spelling mistakes too, but people unable to do even the most basic of maths do really annoy me and I tend to get rather short with them over their incompetancy.

I was in a shop once where the person behind the counter couldn't add up £5 and £2 and what change should be given from £10. Seriously no one should be that stupid.

I think you just answered your own question right there lol. I don't think it's so much people are getting worse at basic grammar and spelling. I think it's partially because everyone is using cellphones,smartphones, iPhones, tablets, and what not that in the attempt to type messages real fast while on the go people basically butcher the English language. Not everyone I imagine uses a computer to look at the internet. Also Gary man I'm not making fun of you or anything/being snarky but I am pretty sure it is "incompetency". Also the OP wrote:



... where I think what he/she meant to say was:

So the other day I was running late to work so I stopped at a burner king for a veggie burg and fries. I pull up the drive window and the lady tells me it's 5.20 so I give her eleven dollars. I wanted a five back. Unfortunately for me the lady at the window she couldn't figure out the change. The next employee couldn't either, so finally the manger of the store was perplexed .... I'm not trying to knock those who work at a fast food restaurant, because I worked at one to pay my way through college and at a convenience store/gas station as well. I just wanted to know when the bar was lowered in our culture and does anyone have any other examples/experiences of this?


(The bold are mine: corrections/suggestions). So ya Scotty your message was clear enough but hey whose counting right? People use shorthand all the time. Then again some of us work all day and if your hurriedly working at your job, but want to share a profound thought people shouldn't really think much less of it; it's just the nature of the beast.

Fair enough; but if you look at:
dictionary.reference.com/browse/incompetency

and

dictionary.reference.com/browse/incompetency

they're just variants of the same word.



I wholeheartedly agree. I am OK at math, but sometimes it can be overwhelming. I think my biggest with it is the lack of exposure to it. When I was in high school I never got the opportunity to study any advanced math past Algebra II. Right now I'm taking Technical Math 102 in school and actually thus far the experience has been pleasant. I think the problem is so many people approach math, like it's some sort of mystical, magical, dark art. It easy when you think about it more sequentially, as a series of steps that need to be done one after another. I think that and figuring the parsing in math is the other challenge many have; but I think that might also be the reason why some have a hard time with grammar, because they can't discern whether something exactly sounds right or not the way they've typed it out. I am far more visually-spatially intelligent though, and my friends give me shit because whenever we played Minecraft I leave them behind in the dust and explore a cave system without using landmarks and they're always perplexed how I find my way back home or to base without getting lost or killed lol.

I see; touche'd.

Would that be something akin to...

"They are so incompetent!" versus,
"His incompetency as an engineer caused the transformer to blow up." kind of idea?

I wasn't having a go at anyone who struggles with maths, but more very simple arithmetic. I mean seriously would anyone here really have had difficulty with the situation I described.